DNC rules could expand, not shrink, future debate stage

[brooklynite]

Politico

Democratic presidential hopefuls at risk of being elbowed out by the debate rules may have gotten a last-minute reprieve.

The deadline to qualify for the September debate is Aug. 28, just a little over three weeks away. To reach the stage, candidates have to get 2 percent in four Democratic National Committee-approved polls and have 130,000 unique donors. That’s a bar that the majority of field has not hit and isn’t on track to do so.

But a DNC memo sent to all the campaigns on Monday essentially gives those candidates who miss the September debate more time to qualify for the October debate, which could very well feature more candidates, not fewer.

The DNC memo sets the deadline to reach 130,000 total donors and score at 2 percent in four polls until two weeks before the October debate, and starts on June 28, the same day qualification for the September debate began. Effectively, this means all the candidates who qualify for the September debate are automatically in the October debate, unless they drop out of the race. And any candidate who misses the September debate has more time to receive new donations or score 2 percent in the polls.

[Bayard]

1. I'd rather they just put some of these candidates out of their misery

So the real contenders have more time in the debates.

[Blue_true]

5. Same here. Set hard criteria. If a candidate can't meet it, that tells us

something about that candidate's appeal to voters.

[Uncle Joe]

2. If they have ten candidates on per night, I wish they would expand the debate to 3 hours

I believe the current time constraints are too restrictive for substantive rebuttals and in allowing the candidates to better articulate their positions on the actual issues affecting the American People.

Thanks for the thread brooklynite.

[thesquanderer]

3. These last debates were 3 hours. (n/t)

[Uncle Joe]

4. I thought they were two and half?

9:41 p.m. ET, July 31, 2019
How to watch night two of the Democratic presidential debate on CNN
CNN is hosting a second night of debate on Wednesday in Detroit. It will start at 8 p.m. ET and end around 10:30 p.m. ET.

Here's more info on how to watch tonight's debate. You can follow live updates here.

[Blue_true]

6. They went 3 hours.

I want to see only the top 6 candidates debating. And I want those debates to be scheduled for enough time to allow adequate policy discussions and rebuttles.